An exploration into service users' and staff experiences of a medium secure setting

Despite a growing literature base related to both compassionate care and work-related stress in healthcare settings, there is a lack of empirical studies investigating the relationship between these concepts, particularly in medium secure settings.

This mixed methods study explored the relationship between compassion (The Compassion Scale) and work-related stress (The HSE Management Standards Toolkit) from the self-report of 51 members of staff in a medium secure setting, including semi-structured interviews with 12 participants.

On the quantitative measures, the relationship between self-reported compassion and work-related stress on the quantitative measures was found to be statistically non-significant. However, elements of compassion were found to significantly predict subscales of work-related stress such that high levels of elements of compassion were found to predict higher levels of subscales of work-related stress.

Participants constructed several meanings of compassion and its role in the care of the patients they worked with. Several consequences of occupational demands were cited including an increase in work-related stress and less time to build therapeutic relationships or to develop compassion towards patients.

The findings of this study can be used to inform the development of staff interventions. Increased consistency of staff groups, increased debriefing opportunities and a review of paperwork responsibilities within staff teams have also been recommended.